Dragon have all ready done the "improvements" to the 234/3 and 234/4 variants some time ago, added the steerable wheels to both and called them premium kits. Used to be premium kits came with metal barrels and some photo etch upgrades but Dragon has cheapened out on content in recent years while raising the prices on these "improved" kits by ash as much as 100%

I hope these become 60% off during dragon usa online's Xmas sale later this year.

I second that hope. I looked for this version, so I would have both turret types, and came up empty. It's not worth 60 to 75 plus 15 shipping. The going cost on the evil bay site today.

In their day these and the others in the 234 family were premium kits in their own rights and Cyber Hobby released limited-production upgrade sets for them that -among other things- replaced the fender panniers to allow the doors to be posed open. Excellent kits even now, but I agree that a simple and cost effective upgrade is to buy one on E-Bay and then upgrade the PE. The mush about the multi-segment wheels is hardly important and wasn't even uniformly offered across all four variants.

Yes, I have a premium of one of the 234 variants that has all these 'upgrades' that I bought about five years ago. I don't know how they are claiming this is 'new' unless its maybe that they didn't premium this particular variant when they did the others.

I second that hope. I looked for this version, so I would have both turret types, and came up empty. It's not worth 60 to 75 plus 15 shipping. The going cost on the evil bay site today.[/quote] Ebay is not "evil"; just a very few people on it... $60-$75 bucks is the going rate for top-notch plastic these days, so GET USED TO IT. Want cheaper prices? WAIT for the DRAGON "Sales Events" and wait a few months before you think about buying on ebay- The prices nearly ALWAYS go down after a particular kit's "novelty" has worn off... I NEVER buy "brand-new" kits; I always wait until the prices come down...

What "used to be" and "what is" today, are two distinctly different things. I don't like it either, but what're ya gonna do? That's LIFE...

I second that hope. I looked for this version, so I would have both turret types, and came up empty. It's not worth 60 to 75 plus 15 shipping. The going cost on the evil bay site today.[/quote] Ebay is not "evil"; just a very few people on it... $60-$75 bucks is the going rate for top-notch plastic these days, so GET USED TO IT. Want cheaper prices? WAIT for the DRAGON "Sales Events" and wait a few months before you think about buying on ebay- The prices nearly ALWAYS go down after a particular kit's "novelty" has worn off... I NEVER buy "brand-new" kits; I always wait until the prices come down... [/quote] I call it evil bay because it does evil things to my wallet. Sadly, the ones on the bay ARE the ones left after the novelty has worn off. With any luck they will be dumped when the new version comes out.

I second that hope. I looked for this version, so I would have both turret types, and came up empty. It's not worth 60 to 75 plus 15 shipping. The going cost on the evil bay site today.[/quote] Ebay is not "evil"; just a very few people on it... $60-$75 bucks is the going rate for top-notch plastic these days, so GET USED TO IT. Want cheaper prices? WAIT for the DRAGON "Sales Events" and wait a few months before you think about buying on ebay- The prices nearly ALWAYS go down after a particular kit's "novelty" has worn off... I NEVER buy "brand-new" kits; I always wait until the prices come down... [/quote] I call it evil bay because it does evil things to my wallet. Sadly, the ones on the bay ARE the ones left after the novelty has worn off. With any luck they will be dumped when the new version comes out.[/quote] Sounds like you could use a new wallet! I kind of have the same problem with MY wallet- My wallet says "yes", but my brain says "NOOOO!!!"